Transportation Alternatives Statement on the Killing of 72-Year-Old Bronx Man While in the Crosswalk With the Right of Way By Hit-and-Run Driver

On Tuesday Evening, 72-year-old Sidney Sele was struck by a hit-and-run driver while in the crosswalk with the right of way at East 211th Street and Paulding Avenue in the Williamsbridge neighborhood of the Bronx and then struck by a second driver who remained on the scene.

Statement of Transportation Alternatives Executive Director Danny Harris:

“A 72-year-old New Yorker who walked with a cane was crossing the street with the right of way when he was struck down, dragged, and killed by two drivers making left turns in the Bronx on Tuesday. The first driver fled the scene. The victim, identified as Sidney Sele, is at least the 77th person to be killed by a driver while walking in New York City this year. Sele’s killing is part of a spike in traffic fatalities citywide, and especially in the Bronx. In 2019, a total of 28 were killed in traffic crashes in the borough, but 45 have been killed already this year. 

The vast majority of traffic crashes that kill New Yorkers while walking or biking occur at intersections. This is an issue of limited visibility and the speed of turns, and it is why the installation of leading pedestrian intervals, which give cyclists and pedestrians a head start while crossing, have been shown to reduce injuries and fatalities at signalized intersections by more than 50 percent. At non-signalized intersections, like the one where Sidney Sele was killed, there is another traffic calming solution particularly suited to times of austerity: Daylighting, or removing parking around intersections to improve visibility and give greater clearance to crosswalks. Daylighting is a cure for deadly traffic crashes that could be implemented at almost no cost and in short order citywide if only Mayor Bill de Blasio had the will to save New Yorkers’ lives. These interventions are especially important for older New Yorkers and New Yorkers who use walking aids, like Sele, and therefore may cross the street more slowly, and for whom the fatality rate in traffic crashes is four times higher than for younger New Yorkers. The fatality rate for pedestrian senior citizens in New York City is more than double that of the U.S. as a whole. 

Sidney Sele’s death is not an accident, but the predictable and preventable result of Mayor Bill de Blasio defunding and delaying lifesaving programs like Vision Zero, his own Green Wave Plan, the Dangerous Vehicle Abatement Program, and the Streets Master Plan. The New York City Department of Transportation has all the tools that it needs to make streets safe, but is hamstrung without mayoral support, leaving all New Yorkers at risk on a road system that prioritizes the convenience of drivers over human life.”